Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, national president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747)

This is among the most absurd excuses we've ever heard a bishop make - that he refused to call police because an admitted predator claimed the victims had left the country. The legal status of children who are molested is irrevelant and it's shameful that Mahony would claim otherwise.

If, in fact, Fr. Baker's victims had left the US, Mahony's duty to call police was even greater, since the chances that the kids themselves would contact law enforcement was virtually nil.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We’ve been around for 22 years and have more than 9,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony didn't call police in 1986 after a priest admitted to molesting two boys and didn't warn parishioners because the priest told him they were illegal immigrants who had returned to Mexico.

Mahony says in a legal deposition released Tuesday that he didn't take stronger action because he didn't know the victims' identities and because the Rev. Michael Baker told him the abuse happened outside the parish.

Much of how Mahony handled Baker has already been made public, but the deposition contains the cardinal's own account under oath of how he handled allegations against the priest.

It's part of a lawsuit that recently settled for $2.2 million.

The now-defrocked Baker is imprisoned for molesting two children. The archdiocese says 23 alleged victims made civil claims involving Baker.